


Like the Hammer Loves the Nail

by rahcorvus



Category: Shaman King (Anime & Manga)
Genre: M/M, Pining, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:06:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26694991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rahcorvus/pseuds/rahcorvus
Summary: Sun on his shoulders, wind in his hair,the smell of the flowers he held in his hand,and the pollen that fell from his fingertips…[Theo and Faust reflect upon their first meeting and their future.  Takes place pre-Shaman Fight.]
Relationships: Faust VIII/Theodoros Alogospoulos
Kudos: 2





	Like the Hammer Loves the Nail

They met on a hill not unlike this one, Faust with his palm spread flat against the trunk of the lone tree which stood watch over the cemetery. Theo had spied the man’s spindly figure from afar and had felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

It was true that few shamans openly declared themselves necromancers, let alone with pride, but to deny the part played by the dead in their work was to disrespect them. That much the two men could agree upon.

Now they lay beside one another in the grass, their eyes fixed upon the heavens. The silence between them was not overwhelming; rather, Theo had come to love the moments of quiet where he could listen to the sound of Faust’s breathing alone.

Still…

“Do you remember the day we met?” Theo asked, his voice barely cresting the wave of silence. Faust sighed, but Theo knew even without glancing at him that his dark lips had curled into a smile.

“Of course I remember,” he answered, lifting a hand to run it through his blond hair, somehow managing to muss it further. “Once one has awakened themself to arts such as ours, there is little they can do to ignore the presence of another shaman -- particularly one with such intriguing talents as yours.”

Theo grinned to himself. It was true -- Faust had known him for what he was sooner than he had even dared to approach. Had Theo been more cautious, or even just more fearful of death, he may have turned on the spot and fled.

But despite the dark aura that surrounded the doctor, Theo had not been able to ignore his presence. Not when he realized that in his free hand he held a handful of yellow flowers, a few stray petals drifting away on the breeze as it played through his hair.

“You took off your hat when you approached me,” Faust mused, his smile still tugging at the corners of his mouth. “It was like something out of a story. But who ever heard of a chivalrous necromancer?”

“I certainly hadn’t.” Theo chuckled as he admitted it. He still wasn’t sure what had come over him back then, only that he was drawn to the other man like a meteor unable to resist gravity’s pull. “But…”

“Don’t you dare call  _ me _ chivalrous, Theo. You know I’m too selfish for that.”

And was it not true? How many times had the other man rested his hand just out of Theo’s reach, his slender fingers begging to be held despite the golden band that now barely managed to cling to his ring finger? How many times had they soothed one another, their hearts beating closer despite the distance Faust kept between them? Sometimes, it was more than Theo could bear…

He pushed the thoughts down as he had so often before, instead electing to gesture towards the sky to keep his lonely hands occupied.

“Don’t you want to know what’s out there?” he asked, gazing at his own fingertips as he spread them out before him. “What lies beyond the veil? What it feels like to die?”

“You know I’ve thought on this for years, if not longer, Theo. Must we always repeat this dance?”

“We may have been over it before, but you’ve still never given me a solid answer.” There were many things he had asked of Faust, and many more he hadn’t.

“There are too many promises I’ve made, to myself and to her,” Faust murmured, glancing at his own bone-thin fingers as he held them before his pale face.

Theo scowled despite himself. Time was fleeting in the world of the living. The Shaman Fight drew inexorably closer, and with it, his chances at hearing the words he wanted to hear from Faust grew slimmer by the day.

Was it loyalty that kept the doctor on his path? Desperation? Gods knew it was more than just love that had driven him to devote his life to the unthinkable.

“Johann…” Theo did his best to keep his voice steady even as his tongue savored the taste of the other man’s given name. Faust turned his head to look at him, and Theo pushed himself upright to a sitting position. “I will not apologize for my curiosities, nor for my wants.” He paused for a moment, the sound of the wind rustling through the grass filling the small, quiet space between them. “But when the time comes, I do not want to be alone.”

Faust flinched at that, a shadow passing over his face. He too sat up, placing a hand on Theo’s shoulder with a white-knuckle grip. Theo stared into his eyes, searching for the slightest spark of something soft in the man’s gaunt expression. Oh, he would kill to make the doctor feel something enough to express it.

He clung to Theo’s shoulder for what felt like hours, and, though it hurt, there was something sacred in the way he didn’t seem to want to let go. Something holy and romantic and devastating, all at once.

Faust sighed once more when he released his grip, this time without a smile.

“Very well,” he said simply. “I will be there.”


End file.
